Widely acclaimed as the founder of modern Chicano literature,
Rudolfo Anaya was born on October 30, 1937 in a small village in New Mexico.
He was raised in a devout Catholic home, the fifth of seven children. Like
Antonio in Bless Me, Ultima, his mother's lineage is llano
(farmers) and his father's vaquero (cowboys); his beloved grandmother
was, like Ultima, considered by many in their community to be a curandera,
or healer. Anaya has spent his life in the southwestern United States, and
the magic and myth of his fiction draw heavily on the landscape and traditions
of that region.

Bless Me, Ultima took Anaya seven years to write and was first
published by the Chicano magazine El Grito. In 1972, Anaya was
awarded the prestigious Premio Quinto Sol Award for the novel. He then went
on to write two more novels to complete his New Mexican trilogy, Heart
of Aztlàn (1976) and Tortuga (1979). From the beginning
of his career, he has been a passionate promoter of Chicano literature.
In fact, many say he has done more to promote its publication than any other
single person. He has also been an eloquent proponent of multiculturalism
and pluralism in American culture, and speaks and writes regularly on the
bigotry that people of color still face in this country.

Currently a professor emeritus of English and creative writing at the University
of New Mexico, Anaya is the author of seven critically acclaimed novels.
He has also written plays, poems, essays, short stories, books for children,
and a series of mystery novels featuring police investigator Sonny Baca.
Anaya received the National Medal of Arts from President George W. Bush
in 2001.